Philippa Sontag was a former member of the Marauders.
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Team & Affiliations
History
Arclight was once a soldier serving in American peacekeeping forces during a conflict in Southeast Asia. The experiences there severely traumatized her, and she retains bitter memories of that place. She used her rage to fuel her bodybuilding, which she further used to augment her mutant abilities.
At some point, Sontag became a member of the Marauders, a team of superhuman assassins brought together by the mutant thief Gambit when he was in the employ of the enigmatic Mister Sinister. On Sinister's orders, the Marauders massacred the underground community of mutants known as the Morlocks. Possibly the cruelest of the Marauders, Arclight took great delight in murder and mayhem, always eager to prove herself up against an opponent with a reputation. In the course of the massacre, the Marauders clashed with various superhuman champions, including the superhuman mutant adventurers known as the X-Men and X-Factor. Her physical strength was gained half due to her mutation and half to her obsessive bodybuilding, her defense against the wartime nightmares which still plagued her in secret.
Arclight and the rest of the Marauders originally died during the demonic invasion of Manhattan that came to be known as the "Inferno", but Sinister had the technology to clone the Marauders thanks to him retaining samples of their DNA. Thus, Arclight continued to appear among the Marauders in all subsequent activities, including their battles with Cable and X-Man, each time on behalf of Mister Sinister. During the hunt of Threnody and X-Man, she was killed by a Nate-manipulated Riptide, after having been herself lured into killing Blockbuster.
For a brief time, Arclight served as a member of the Femizons, an all-female superhuman army led by the other-dimensional warrior woman known as Superia. During this time, Arclight clashed with the super-soldier Captain America and the mercenary named Paladin.
More recently, Magneto managed to find Mr. Sinister's cloning machines and used it to produce new clones of the Marauders, including Arclight, this time to help his mutant cause.
After being resurrected, the Marauders struck off on their own, once again massacring the Morlock population. This lead an angered Chamber, their new leader, to rejoin the X-Men. When the X-Men re-encountered the Morlocks, the Marauders fought briefly, but ultimately surrendered, professing their innocence. Not believing them, Chamber burned them to death with his psionic flame.
An Arclight from Mr. Sinister's clone farm beneath the Essex Home for Foundlings was later seen being mutilated and tortured by the Goblin Queen during a mystical ritual. The Hellions were sent to investigate and possibly recruit the legacy Marauders at Scalphunter's request. However, the Hellions were quickly ambushed by the Marauders, transformed into zombie-like creatures under the Goblin Queen's control. During the battle, Arclight deceived Scalphunter by begging him to save them, allowing for her teammate Harpoon to impale him from behind.
Arclight eventually regained her senses when the Goblin Queen's control over her lifted, but Scalphunter shot and killed Arclight to spare her from living as a zombie. The Council of Krakoa decided to resurrect all of the legacy Marauders, including Arclight, but without their genetic enhancements from Mister Sinister